This week I participated in a live-streamed webinar, "Close Reading Up Close", presented by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, authors of Text Dependent Questions, Grades K-5 and Rigorous Reading. Their presentation was very informative and broke down close reading.

One image they presented of reading instruction was to think of it like weight training. When you exercise with weights, you use "heavy" weights to build strength. These exercises happen in shorter, more directed bursts. Often there is a coach, trainer, or spotter nearby to offer support in the moment. You use "light" weights to build stamina. These exercises are more prolonged, with more repetitions. The coach, trainer, or spotter is on the sideline, giving feedback and encouragement between sets. Reading instruction is the same. We use "heavy" texts in shorter bursts with teacher guidance to build strength, and we use "lighter" texts in longer amounts with more independence to build stamina. Both are essential.

So... Where does close reading fit in? What is close reading? When does close reading occur? How do I select text for close reading? Continue reading for some ideas.

What is close reading?Close reading is when we use our "heavy" weights. These are the short bursts of practice that are highly directed and coached.

Close reading is:

A short passage - The passage should be anywhere between a paragraph to a page and a half. Because you will be guiding your students to tackle complex texts, it should be short in order to give it your full attention and analysis to it. The passage could be pulled from a larger text. If passages get too long they won't be able to be fully analyzed and reread.

Reread- This is the driving part of close reading. During the initial read students focus only on what does the text say...After one reading students focus on how does the text work...During later readings students focus on what does the text mean... what does the text inspire me to do...

Annotated - Students should be able to write or mark the text in some way. When building foundational annotation skills have students underline main points, circle words and phrases that are unclear or confusing, write margin notes in their own words. Later, students can more towards more complex text annotation. These annotations can then be collected an analyzed. You can truly see the students' thinking. In the primary grades, students can be guided to underline and circle on their texts. Students should be interacting with the text in a way that could be applied later to a different text.

Analyzed using text-dependent questions - This is a critical scaffold. There are three levels of questioning. I'll talk about this more below.

Who does the reading?

K-2 - The teacher is likely doing the reading and guiding students through text-dependent questioning. Students may or may not eventually read the text. This is dependent on the text difficulty.

3-5 - The students almost always read the text on their own for the first reading and annotate. The text may or may not be read aloud at some point.

When do we do close reading?Close reading can be done several times a week. You will most likely use one text over the course of a week and really dig into it, engaging in repeated readings and reading for a new purpose each time, pushing the level of text-dependent questions deeper each time.

How do we select texts for close reading?Close reading is not the time to differentiate text. You select one text that will challenge your students and give them something to truly tackle. The text should be complex enough to spur discussion and inspire students to debate, investigate, write, present, or take some action of some sort.

What is text-dependent questioning?Text-dependent questioning is questioning developed in order to dig in and analyze the text. There are three levels to think about when developing questions.

What does the text say? During the initial read, student are simply reading or listening for key details and general understanding. The questions after the initial read should pull these from the text. For example,

How does the text work?After the initial read, students read or listen to determine the author's craft and purpose, for vocabulary and text structure.

What does the text mean? During later reads, students tackle questions that ask for their opinions and arguments, intertextual connections, or to make inferences.

What does the text inspire me to do?After several reads, students should be ready to do something with the information they have tackled. This could be discussing the topic, debating different viewpoints, investigating a topic further, presenting their findings, writing a response, or whatever action seems reasonable.

On a related note...

Close Reading Model Lessons - Check out the downloadable lessons from Achievethecore.org. There are several sample plans organized by grade level. You can download the lessons with the text for reading included. Using these sample lessons might be a great way to step into close reading before selecting texts on your own.